Nature verses Nurture
by blackjackkat
Summary: Are virus and vaccine digimon born with programed personalities, is one inherently 'evil' and the other 'good? Is it nature or nurture with digimon?
1. So we meet

**Nature verses Nurture – ch1 – So we meet **

Season – It's saver-ish in that it borrows from ideas from that season, human x digimon fighting, and the family bonds between a human and digimon.

_Disclaimer_ – I don't own digimon, don't claim too. The humans and a few of the digimons to be introduced in later chapters are original.

* * *

Virus and vaccine are opposite forces in the digital world. Virus digimon are characterized as leather clad, gray, and evil while vaccine are generalized as white, pure, and good. But is this the case? Even if they are programed to be a certain way it would be unreasonable to believe that their experiences in life and relationships they develop do not affect this internal program. Is it nature or nurture with digimon? On a spring morning in Japan two humans and their opposing digimon would come to be intertwined together. As time progresses both virus and vaccine would begin to wonder at each other's programing and what is considered 'natural' in their world.

The boy's breath was taken away to see her fist connect with that first digimon's chins. Effortlessly she sent the champion level digimon Ogremon toppling over. She quickly resumed her battle stance, her back to him. Her long pony tail of red hair bobbed as she swayed on her toes partially covering the orange white and orange flag on her green jacket.

As the over muscled green digimon attempted to climb to his feet the girl quickly launched forward and and landed an uppercut on the underside of his jaw sending him once again to his back. A look of disbelief was painted on his features as he dissolved into digital data. Bits of data drifted up to the sky as the girl turned to leave the scene.

Quickly finding his voice the boy called out, "H-hey wait up Irish!" The girl stopped and turned to face him. He ran up to her, stopping about ten feet away from her. "My name is Kouhei I want you to teach me!"

"Nice english kid, and what is it that I could teach you?" she asked in her accent with a smile dancing on her lips. Her angel kissed freckles and honey eyes contraindicated with the power she had just unleashed.

Kouhei bristled, "I'm not a kid I'm 19!" Kouhei had short messy black hair with bangs that would never stay in place and constantly slid to cover his dark eyes. His well worn blue jeans made his long legs look scrawny. His baggy button down shirt was a muted green that highlighted the olive tint of his skin.

"Kouhei, don't run off without me!" Kouhei turned around to the sound of his name and the pada pada of paws. Gatomon stopped at her partner's side, short of breath. His Gatomon had unique data imprints that caused her outward appearance to be different from others of her type. Instead of white her fur was a pale yellow and patterned like ocelot with black ear tuffs. Her tail was longer than normal and capped in white. The last and most stunning difference was her wide emerald green eyes.

"It's fine Gatomon the wild ones been taken care of," He said turning back to face the red head.

"Taken care of?" Gatomon looked over at her too. "What do you mean there's just this lady, where's her digimon?"

She smiled and walked up toward the pair. "He's around, but I don't need him for something as weak as that guy. He'd come if I needed help."

Gatomon's eyes opened widened and looked from the red head to her partner. He looked down at the feline and nodded. Gracefully and swiftly she climbed up onto Kouhei's shoulder to be at a better level for conversation. She disliked having to crane her head up to speak with people.

"Well _Coo-hay_, you gonna answer me?"

"It's Kouhei!" He said through a blush, "and I want you to teach me to fight like you. I want to fight toe to toe with digimon. I'll pay you!"

The red head chuckled, "I'm just giving you a hard time kiddo calm down." She turned her heels and started to walk away leaving the boy and his partner at a loss. "Come on if you're coming," she called over her shoulder. Kouhei ran to catch up to her and followed her down several winding back alleys. The wild one had stepped into the real world from the digital world in a shipping yard. Lately the area had been a hot bed for wild one activities but luckily human activity was low.

The three came to stop in front of a large sliding door warehouse. As she reached into her pocket for a key Kouhei called out, "What's your name, what am I supposed to call you?"

Finding the key she unlocked the padlock and removed it. "You can just keep calling me Irish and Him you can just call Dee."

"Who's Him?" Gatomon asked from her shoulder perch.

Irish let out another small chuckle and slid open the door revealing the warehouse had been remodeled into a loft apartment. Lounging on a low sofa sat Dee. His long legs over hung the arm rests and in his oversized hands rested a novel. His long fingers rode the boundary between elegant and grotesque. Long thin horns sprouted a foot long from each side of his head and from top to bottom he was encased in leather and stitches. Folded carefully underneath him were a pair of sizable yet thin wings. His yellow eyes were set within unsettling black sclera.

"He's gonna help me train you, my digimon Devimon." Dee closed his book and stood up. His movements were fluid and smooth and at his full height he was close to eight feet. Irish whacked Kouhei on the shoulder. "Don't just stand there with you're mouths on the floor either come in or leave." Stiffly he walked farther into the warehouse. Irish slid the door closed, locked it, then walked over to Devimon.

"I know what you're thinking," Devimon said. His voice was cool and collected, un- phased by Kouhei's fright and Gatomon's agitation. "And I'm quite offended."

"Us offend you?" Gatomon said with a snide tone. "I think we should be offended that it be suggested you help train my kou."

Devimon lips curved up into a sarcastic half smile. "Your tone proves my point dear. You see my appearance and apply generalizations and prejudices without even knowing me. It's always the same with your type" He sighed and looked toward Irish. "It's always an upward battle whenever you introduce people to me."

"Ya well, how often does that happen?" Irish replied. She shed her half jacket and tossed it on the sofa. "Relax," she said addressing Kouhei, "Do you really think a virus digimon would be partners with a human if he fit the kind of stereotype you have in mind?"

Kouhei stole a glance at the tall thin digimon. He took a breath and replied, "Right and wrong come from ones actions, not one's appearance. Just like grandfather used to say Gatomon, he'd be upset with the reaction we've given."

"Don't blame her for that reaction. As far as I can tell virus and vaccine digimon have a internal program to be at odds with one another. Luckily with experience and interaction they can move beyond it." Irish looked between Devimon and Gatomon, "They just need to be willing."

"I'm willing," Kouhei replied.

Her face lit up in a smile, "In body as well as mind I hope cause these first few sessions will hurt. But first things first." She motioned for Dee to come forward and then beckoned for Kouhei to come forward. "Go at it and show me what you got!"

* * *

This is an idea I've had bouncing around for a long time. The concept really interests me. Please read and review, I bounce around a lot on stories and a good review prompts my mind to switch gears and gets them rolling. Anyone have any digimon they'd like to see introduced?


	2. Gauging Kouhei

Nature verses Nurture – ch2 – Gauging Kouhei

Season – It's dats-esk in that it borrows from ideas from that season, human x digimon fighting, and the family bonds between a human and digimon.

_Disclaimer_ – I don't own digimon, don't claim too. The humans and a few of the digimons to be introduced in later chapters are original.

Speech in /slants/ are spoken in Japanese.

* * *

With a crash Kouhei tumbled to the floor yet again. Gatomon watched worriedly, her long tufted ears bent backward. She looked from her partner to Irish, who was sprawled out on the sofa watching the tussle. Hidden behind her hand was a slightly curved mouth. Feeling the small cat's eyes on her she glanced over in her direction. "Okay, okay cool down boys. You're worrying the cat."

Kouhei stretched his legs out and sat on the floor. He closed his eyes and worked to calm his pulse and slow his breathing. Gatomon hurried to her partner. "Are you okay Kouhei?"

Devimon lazily cracked his knuckles and in his cool voice offered a response, "He's fine. All I did was toss him around a bit."

"I wasn't asking you!" Gatomon shot back.

"It's okay Gatomon," Kouhei said. "He was just redirecting my attacks and throwing me off. He wasn't trying to hurt me." At her partner's reassurance the little digimon expression changed.

Dee took a few steps forward and stretched out his hand. Despite Kouhei words, Gatomon's ears Instinctively flattened at his approach. The tall lanky digimon smiled slightly at her reaction, a light of amusement in his eyes. "What a fierce little kitten you have as your partner. Here, take my hand. If my girl says she's going to train you then that makes me you my comrade."

Kouhei reached out and took hold of two long fingers, Dee's hand was far too large for him to grasp like a normal humans. With the virus digimon's help the boy stood up. Even at his full height, the digimon still stood at least two feet taller.

"Nice show boys!" Irish said. "Well, kind of. At least one of you put on a good show," she added with a smirk. With a hop she got to her feet. The low leather couch she had been lounging on sat against the back wall, opposite the entrance. A beautiful glossy grand piano sat angled in the left corner with it's top open, revealing the spruce wood within creating a stunning contrast against the black. To the right of the sofa was a set of stairs that led to Irish's loft bedroom. A industrial style railing ran up the length of the stairs and made up one wall of the room.

"What kind of training do you even have kid?" she asked as she walked over to her kitchen. Small but cozy, she had all the essentials with comfortable counter space and a bar top island.

Kou straightened out his clothes and followed in suit, taking a seat on one of the sleek barstools tucked underneath the black granite bar top. Gatomon bounded from the floor to the bar, sitting on the edge facing her partner. "I've trained in jujutsu for years. All through middle and high school."

Irish reached into the fridge and took out a tray of ice. "Jujutsu?" she asked as she popped several cubes into a tall glass. "Isn't that all about uses an attackers force against them to throw and lock them?"

"Yes," Gatomon responded, "but Kou is too stubborn for that. As you saw he likes to go at it full force, something that's counter to what he's been taught."

Dee had since retreated back to his former position on the couch and to his book. "Yes, I had noticed that." A hiss issued from the spotted cat in response to his snide remarks. The virus digimon chuckled at her defensiveness and went back to his book.

"Well," Irish said as she filled up the glass with cold water, "As you found out that kind of technique doesn't work very well on digimon. I'm not gonna say there aren't some you can just go all out on, as you saw earlier, since most digimons are stronger, taller, and heavier than us humans." She set the glass down in front of Kouhei and added, "So technically, if you actually fought the way you were trained you'd be in a good starting place."

"Thanks,"Kou said and as he took long drink from the glass. "Now that you've seen were I'm at, how do you suggest we continue?"

Irish grinned. "Secret."

Setting down his empty glass kou gave her a puzzle look. "Secret?"

"It's a secret. All I say is you're done for the night, and show up here at ten AM tomorrow, sharp. Oh and do me a favor, give me your number before you head out. "

"When she says it's a secret," Dee called from his position across the room, "she means she has no idea what she's doing." Irish's grin disappeared and she burned a 'shut up if you know what's good for you' look at the digimon. "That's why she's sending you home already, needs time to plan out what she wants to do. But honestly, she'll probably just make it up as she goes along."

"Thanks for that Dee."

"What? I didn't say it wouldn't work, I'm just explaining that is how you operate." At Irish's continued glare he flashed her a toothy grin, a jackassy 'you know you love me' smile.

Kouhei tried to suppressed a grin. "Ok Gatomon lets head back now. We told obaasan we'd be back in under and hour." Standing up Kou gave a respectful bow, Gatomon followed en suit. Irish saw them to the door and waved goodbye as they went around a corner and disappeared.

With Gatomon resting on his shoulder, Kou made his way hasty through the town. More time then he thought had passed while with Irish. The warm afternoon had given way to a cool twilight that dyed the building and the townspeople hues of blues and purple. As the boy rushed by the restaurants and homes the smells of freshly cooked dinners drifted to his nose. On a small street, nestled between a bakery and a three story apartment complex, sat a small two level building. A large sign proclaimed it as Tajima Noodle House.

Kouhei walked in the entrance, waving a vague greeting to the to the Ojiisan behind the counter as he rushed straight up the stairs to the second level. Quickly and quietly the boy slipped off his shoes and put on his house slippers. Gatomon jumped to the floor and slowly closed the door to the stairs.

/"Kouhei, where have you been! You've worried an old woman!"/ Kouhei turned around at the sound of her voice. Obaasan had a round kind face and long grey hair she kept bundled up on the top of her head. Pleasant lines creased her face, earned from a life of happy time and smiling faces.

/"I'm sorry granny, something came up. You don't need to worry about me I am nineteen. I can take care of myself."/ Kouhei patted obaasan consolingly no the shoulders and walked past her to the back room he rented from the elderly couple. /"I'm going to be out again tomorrow, early this time. I don't know how long I'll be gone."/

Gatomon padded after Kou with the old lady shuffling after. /"Just because you're nineteen doesn't mean an old woman can't worry about you. Compared to me and the old man your years is just a drop in the bucket. Your noodles are cold, I'll heat them up for you."/

As obaasan shuffled off again down the hallway Kouhei yawned and stretched out on his thin futon mattress. Gatomon jumped with a thud onto the center of the boy's chest, causing the boy to issue an 'ump!' in response. /"Do you think this is really a good idea kou?"/

He smiled and looked up at the beamed ceiling. /"I really don't know but it's not something I can just pass up on. Why are you so hesitant about this arrangement? Is it because her digimon just happens to be a Devimon?"/ Before she could answer he added, /"Before you respond, just ask youself. If her digimon was an Angemon or a Greymon or anything other than what it is, would you be so opposed?"/ The two then became silent and by the time obaasan had come back the two were asleep.

* * *

**Closing notes** : Sorry for the lack of updates this summer, originally I had wanted to hit it full force and get along on my story. Things don't always go as planned though and work, along with life in general, took a lot out of me. Anyways, here's another chapter for anyone interested, my semester starts August 30 but I'll try to keep at my writing. Please read and review, let me know what you think!

Obaasan – Japanese for grandma/old lady

Ojiisan- Japanese for grandpa/old man

The couple he rents a room from aren't really his relatives, he just calls them that as a casual title because they're so easy going and familiar with each other.


	3. Secret!

Nature verses Nurture – ch3 – Secret!

Season – It's dats-esk in that it borrows from ideas from that season, human x digimon fighting, and the family bonds between a human and digimon.

_Disclaimer_ – I don't own digimon, don't claim too. The humans and a few of the digimons to be introduced in later chapters are original.

Speech in /slants/ are spoken in Japanese.

* * *

The night was still and the small apartment was silent, all its occupants asleep except one. Soft cat paws padded down the hallway. The question Kouhei had asked her before they fell asleep was weighting heavy on her mind.

'What someone looks like doesn't always reflect whats inside, of course I know that. Kouhei's sensi always told us that and so did obaasan and ojiisan. But...' Gatomon's ears dropped as she thought things over. All these things she knew already but still, something deep within her stopped her from giving into friendship with the tall leather clad digimon. She let out a hiss in the dark. It frustrated her so to be at the mercy of some hidden programming.

/"What has so upset my favorite feline?"/ Gatomon turned to see ojiisan standing behind her. The little cat was so lost in her musings she hadn't even heard the old man approach. Once tall and straight, ojiisan's back had long since bent over and not a hair was left on his head. Jokingly, Kou and Gatomon called him the old turtle man.

/"Oh, Ojiisan. . . I don't know what's wrong with me. Have you ever been at odds with yourself?"/

Ojiisan chuckled at this. /"Oh little kitty, I have lived many years, and many a time I've had internal conflicts. Why do you ask this, what's on your mind. You can tell your ojiisan."/

Gatomon sighed. /"Well, I know what is right but deep in my heart I still feel some prejudice. You should not judge one on their appearances but something deeply embedded in my programing still causes me to do it."/ The little digimon looked ashamed as she spoke. /"I feel awful putting blame on my programing. I wish that in some ways I were more human so that my thoughts wouldn't be dictated by someone else."/

The old man chuckled at her uncertainty. /"Ho, so that's what's bothering you. You think that if you were a human you'd be free of such thoughts? It is human nature to be fear what they don't understand and what is different. We must just overcome these instincts or they will led to prejudices, false assumptions, and many missed experience because of fear."/

Ojiisan rubbed his neck and turned around to shuffle back to his room. /"We're all 'programed' with certain fears you just must rise above them little one. Next time you're faced with such feelings, ask yourself if your prejudice have any basing in fact."/ Gatomon watched him disappear down the hallway. Sighing heavily she padded back to Kouhei's room. She nestled into the blankets by the boy's head and drifted back into an uneasy sleep.

"Kouhei!"

Kouhei rolled over to his side, pulled his sheets around his face, and mumbled something incoherent.

Gatomon starred at her partner, a scowl on her face. On a small table sat a digital clock with the time 11:16 emblazon in blue digits. She crawled up to his face and took a deep breath. "KOUHEI!"

A startled Kouhei sat bolt up right, flinging off his covers in the process and sending Gatomon tumbling. /"What! What!"/

"Hmmrpflth!" Still dazed, Kouhei looked around his room and at his pile of sheets. Gatomon's head popped out from the pile, looking disgruntled.

/"Oh, I'm sorry Gatomon but you startled me. What's going on?"/

/"Oh nothing," she replied climbing out the cocoon and standing next to kouhei on his thin barren mattress. "Nothing at all since you were supposed to be at Irish's at ten and it's after 11:15."/

Kouhei stared at the little cat in silence, blankness washing over his face like he'd been freeze framed. It was not in his nature to be late. If he was going to be somewhere he would be there. In addition to this he could only imagine what the red head fighter would do to him when he ends up being late on his first day of training. Suddenly his face came alive again and he jumped to his feet. Gatomon watched with amusement as her partner frantically got dressed.

/"No time for breakfast this morning Kou," Gatomon said with a smile as she leapt on to the frazzled boy's shoulder. "We'd better run like the wind!"/

As Kouhei rushed out of the little house, remembering to bid obaasan and ojiisan a goodbye, he frowned at cat clinging to his shoulder. /"We'd? You mean I'd better run you lazy bum!"/

Panting, Kouhei came to the stop at the corner of Irish's loft. He reached into his pocket and was dismayed to see his cell phone display the time; 11: 32. Nervousness washed over him and he closed his eyes, concentrating on catching his breath.

Gatomon jumped down to the ground and looked at her partner, trying to read his face. /"Are you sure you still want to do this? We are late... and Irish never called you, maybe she wasn't even expecting to come, maybe she said it as a joke?"/

Kouhei paused at that suggestion. /"A joke...? No, I do not believe she meant what she said as a joke Gatomon. As for why she didn't call... well..." He paused and looked down at Gatomon's questioning face and smiled. "Well if it was a joke and she doesn't want me here, then she can turn me away. But like I said last night, I cannot pass up this offer."/

Taking a deep breath, Kouhei gathered his courage walked around to the door. The closer He got the more the faint sound of music drifted to his ear. Piano... and violin? Somehow it seems out of place for the energetic Irish. Gatomon gave him an encouraging smile as he pressed down on the buzzer. Abruptly, the music stopped and after a brief pause, the door slid open an Irish stood before him.

She cocked an eyebrow, "So you finally decided to show eh?"

Kouhei bowed, Gatomon followed suit, "I'm so sorry, forgive me for my lateness. There must have been something wrong with my alarm. If you will still allow it I'd like very much to train with you."

Irish repositioned herself, her back leaning up against the door frame, and crossed her arms across her chest. "You made me waste time waiting, so now you have to wait while I finish what I'm doing. Come in, sit down, and be quiet." Gatomon was silently amused at Irish's quiet womanly anger that lurked below the surface, mostly because Kouhei had no idea it was there.

Pushing off the door frame, Irish moved back into the room, allowing Kouhei and Gatomon to enter. The cat was not expecting to see the tall lanky digimon seated at the large piano. In his lap he held a violin. Irish pointed to the sofa, a silent command to sit, and walked up to her digimon, taking the violin he offered her.

Kouhei sat on the sofa's edge, hands in his lap, with the demeanor of a kid being scolded. Gatomon was fascinated at the odd music scene before her sat on the arm rest closest to the duo. The same thought crossed the boy and the cat's mind, "They made that music?" Maybe she was programed with some kind of "curiosity of a cat" program but Gatomon's attention was particularly involved in the scene unfolding.

Without missing a beat, Irish brought the bow up to the violin's string and effortlessly she and Devimon resumed their song. The beautiful sound of the ivory keys mixed with the strings created an enchanting melody that filled the room. Gatomon practically gawked as Dee's long thin fingers danced across the keys. She was amazed as his graceful, that's the only word she could use to describe it, fingers smoothly produced a haunting scene. At certain parts of the song the violin would rise to dominance before surrendering to the ivory keys of the piano.

Kouhei watched as Irish swayed with the movement of her bow, allowing herself to be completely absorbed in the melody. He looked over at his partner. Her emerald eyes were large and she was completely engrossed in the song. He had no idea she would be so entranced at a live performance, "Gatomon likes music this much?" he thought to himself.

With a flourish of fingers the piece came to an end and after a pause the sound of soft gloves coming together broke through. Gatomon applauded them. "That was beautiful!" She exclaimed. The lateness of their arrival and the possible consequences to her partner were forgotten in her excitement. "Wasn't that wonderful Kou?" she asked turning around to her still quiet partner.

"Ah, yes. It was wonderful, I never would have suspected..." Kouhei stumbled out. Irish handed her violin back to Devimon, whoes lip held a small curve of a smile, and walked over to the couch not responding. Kou stood up and stood awkward. His instincts were telling him to make amends.

"Um.." Kouhei started quietly, still afraid of an angry reprise. "I am sorry again, for being late... I was wondering, why is it that you didn't call me? I mean, it seems like it would be in your nature to call and see where I was."

"You mean I seem like the kind of person to verbally harass someone when they're late?"

"I um-"

Irish walked closer to the timid boy, "Or what? You think I'm some kind of control freak who demands obedience?"

"I-I..." Kouhei was flustered and at a loss, quickly he bowed low. "I'm so sorry! That's not what I meant at all, I'm sorry if I offend you!" He was startled when a hand gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder. He looked up to see Irish smiling down at him. It was a gentle kind of smile that seemed out of place from the picture he had arranged in his head of the red headed fighter. He straightened up and the thought crossed his mind, that it seemed the kind of smile an older sister or mother would give, someone who is full of caring.

Irish's smile grew into an energetic grin. She looked down at Gatomon, "You have a good boy as a partner." Then she addressed Kouhei. Giving his cheek a pinch she said, "You're too cute when you get flustered, tongue tied and embarrassed. Ha! You need more time to get to know me."

Gatomon smiled back at the secret violinist, she couldn't help it she just liked the woman. She had a confidence and infectious personality which made is hard not to.

Stretching her arms high above her head Irish walked to the center of the room, back to the boy and his cat, and added, "to answer your question, I didn't call because I didn't want to pester you. If you wanted to reconsider coming I wasn't going to badger you about it and cause you embarrassment." She turned around to face him, "Trying some of that face saving stuff you asian people are so mad about. Although, judging from your cheeks I caused some embarrassment anyways."

Instinctively Kouhei reached up to his cheeks and directed his eyes to the floor. He wasn't embarrassed about being scolded...

Irish walked over and stood at attention beside Devimon. "Anyways, like I said yesterday, digimon are taller," She pointed up at Dee. "stronger," Dee flexed out his arm and Irish jumped on it like it was a tree limb, hanging off the ground. "and heavier-" Irish jumped down to the ground to whack her digimon in his midsection, "Then us humans."

Dee raised and eye brow and looked down at his partner. "Heavier? You mean fatter?"

Irish stared at her partner, "What are you an insecure sixteen year old girl?" With a bored look she waved off his comment. "Go eat a cupcake slim. Anyways, as I was saying they're bigger, tougher, and fatter than humans." She directed 'fatter' at Dee sticking out her tongue. "Therefore, you got to use that against them. Something you know about. Redirection of an opponent's force to topple them over. Dee come here."

Sighing, because he knew where this was going, Dee slowly glided over to his partner's side. "Make this quick so I can get back to my baby."

Gatomon bounded onto Kou's shoulder, her tail waving back and forth. She was still feeling wound up from the musical performance. "Your baby?"

"His piano," Irish said. "Where ever we go we have to take it. You know how expensive that gets?"

A slight smile came to Dee's face. "It's worth it. Besides I pay my own way."

"It is worth it, that really was amazing!" Gatomon said excitedly.

Dee smiled her way, "Just yesterday you didn't even want me to get near your partner and now you're showering me with praises. I think you're quite unable to hide that energetic nature of yours despite your company."

"Yes, our landlords call her jiyu na seishin. It basically means free spirit," Kouhei explained.

"Hey hey!" Irish interrupted. "We're here to kick ass, not discuss music. Let's get down to business. Using this," she said pointing crudely to Dee, "I'll show you how to apply takedown techniques to a digimon."

At the look Kouhei gave him the digimon responded by saying, "I am but a training dummy today it appears. Please pay attention I don't want to be laid out more than I have to be."

Irish laughed, "Don't mind him, I'll toss him as much as you need. He's not as fragile as he's leading on to be. Now you know about tossing and redirecting and whatever cause you're trained to do it. However, digimon, like this one here, are often feet taller than us. So using the exact techniques you've been taught won't work. You'll need modification on the spot. Also, helpful hint, Humanoid digimon share the same pressure points as people. For example..." Irish reached over to Dee's wrist pressing on his pressure point.

"Although, as you can see, because Dee is proportionally so much larger than a human, you'll have trouble using wrist pressure points for fighting. However," she said smiling up at her digimon, "You will see that it still does cause some discomfort, which allows you to launch an attack on a different point." Still holding his wrist Irish slid her hand up to apply pressure on his inner upper arm. "Then you can get in even closer for a nice hit." Holding on to his arm she pulled it away from his body and pretended to launch a kidney punch. "Or if you want to bring them down to your level for a shot at their face," Here she mimic a kick to the side of his knee, "Knees are always a good target."

"As you saw yesterday you could also go full throttle on a digimon, but I wouldn't suggest it unless you have a really good idea of what you're up against. Best to test things out and adjust your attack. I've found that with the bigg'ins it's best to toss them then punch them, you get a really good opening that way!" Irish swept Dee's leg out from under him, knocking the wind out of him and raised her fist above him. "Any shot you make, you gotta make count, remember that one for sure!"

"Do you still practice?" Irish questioned Kouhei as she watched her digimon pull his lankly legs to his torso to stand.

Kouhei looked down at the floor and paused before responding, "Unfortunately no. I can no longer afford it."

"We can barely afford the back room of a shop much less lessons," Gatomon added from her perch.

Before Dee could get to his feet Irish pushed down on the inside of his collar bone and tossed him onto his back again. "What do you do for a job then huh? I thought you were still in High school."

Kouhei cheeks became red. "I told you yesterday, I'm 19 years old," he mumbled. "I work at a grocery store. Customers send us their lists and pay online and I go out to deliver it."

Irish's face lit up. "You're a delivery boy, ha! How cute." She wanted to pry into where his family was, and why they weren't helping him if he could barely pay his rent, but she thought it would be better for him to bring it up so she held her tongue.

"Anyways!" Irish said stepping away from her digimon. "Back on topic, using your opponent's force against them. Aside from just tossing them, you can easily flip them to get a better shot at them. Watch, Dee come at me."

At Irish's command Dee pulled back his long arm, pulling his fingers together and stabbed forward toward her. Irish slid aside grabbing his upper arm. Not stopping at all she fluidly flung the spindly digimon. With his legs flying out from under him he flipped onto his back. Still holding onto his arm with her non-dominant hand she brought her arm back, pretending to attack.

"And smash, right into their face. It goes without saying the nose is always good, while they're in pain from that, you can strike somewhere else, and when you flip them it's easy enough to hit, well as long as they don't have a mask. If they do you can always go for their windpipe and use that opportunity instead."

Irish let go of her digimon's arm and he pulled himself up to a sitting position as she continued, "There are other things to consider besides simply size considerations. It goes without saying digimon have some crafty attacks up their sleeves and unfortunately we can't do much against them other then dodging. Which leads us to our next task!" This last statement she said with a smile playing on her lips.

Dee looked around at his girl's face and at Kouhei. "I don't know what she has planned but that smile is not exactly encouraging."

Irish's smile grew bigger, "Time to take a field trip, do you know where the nearest tennis court is?"

* * *

**Closing Notes: **I want to say I refer to Kouhei as boy because, if you haven't notice or I'm too poor a writer and I can't get it a crossed lol, he's very naïve and innocent despite his age of being an 'adult'

remember! : Obaasan = grandma/old lady Ojiisan = grandpa/old man.


	4. Kouhei's first wild one

Nature versus Nurture – ch4 – Kouhei's first wild one!

Speech in /slants/ are spoken in Japanese.

Obaasan = grandma/old lady Ojiisan = grandpa/old man.

* * *

Kouhei, with Gatomon perched on her usual shoulder, led the way to the nearest public tennis court he knew. Irish followed behind him. She gave off the most carefree air of anyone he'd ever met. A tennis bag, curiously with a single racket, swung back and forth at her side as she looked around curiously at the people and shops they passed. 'They must not have been in that loft very long,' He mused. Nestled into the hollow of her neck was the de-digivolved Dee, now a Demidevimon. His small wings were folded neatly on his back and his face was burrowed against Irish's skin. Apparently he had no interest in sightseeing. The two partners personalities seemed incredibly at odds with one anothers. Dee was almost bland and blasia with a small hint of sarcasm and humor while Irish was energetic, teasing, and friendly.

After a short walk the foursome came to a small health club. It was four stories tall with a manned counter visible just beyond the opened door. Kou turned to Irish. He felt his embarrassment rising again. He had just admitted he can't afford lessons and he'd just led them to a pay to play court. He stood stiff and uncomfortably shifting feet. He gave yet another stiff bow, so many he'd given already today. "Um, after everything I'm really sorry. These courts are pay to play, I d-don't really have the fee to cover the cost..."

Irish smiled and snorted with laughter. She gave Kou another slap on the back as she passed him and approached the desk. She nonchalantly paid for the both of them and quickly mounted the stairs two at a time to their second story court. Kouhei scrambled up after Irish. Apparently he wasn't moving fast enough for Gatomon as she had jumped to the floor and climbed the stairs just ahead of the boy.

As he entered the court he saw that Irish was already making herself comfortable and Dee had returned to his champion form. The redhead had shed her jacket and tossed it into a corner and was stretching her arms above her head then stretching down to her toes. He stood stupidly not sure of what to do.

"Go ahead and stretch out, warm up, whatever you need to do," Irish said as she pulled out an old wooden racket and a tube of tennis balls. Dee started to chuckle as he seated himself on the floor. His back was against the wall and he was even with the net. One leg stretched out to it's fullest the other bent at the knee with an arm resting upon it. Kouhei had the idea that the lanky digimon could look casual, comfortable, and unaffected in any setting. Gatomon took residence on top of the pole of the net on the opposite end.

"Really?" Dee asked in his cool voice. He must have had some idea of what Irish planned now. Kouhei stretched out his arms and legs as he took his place at the other side of the net. Irish said nothing, just smiled, as she went up to the net and unhooked it. She dragged the material to one side and tossed it out of the way. She popped open the new tennis ball tube and began to bounce one of the balls against the ground with the racket. The other balls she clutched in her opposite hand.

"Okay. Here's the deal. Like I said, you need to learn to move fast and dodge attacks. So first things first." She gave the tennis ball one more hard whack to launch it into the air then swung hard sending the ball shooting toward Kouhei.

Unprepared Kouhei balled up on the floor, hand held out to shield himself. Irish's training seemed to be more get in and get dirty than anything else. Quickly this realization dawned on him and he popped up to his feet.

Irish smiled at the determined look on his face. "You ready now huh? Well an attacking digimon's not going to explain what their attack looks like or ask if you're ready for them. Learn that. Cat, be a dear and act as my ball girl. I'd ask Dee but he's slow and lazy. You got some more get up and go than he does." Dee let out a scoff as Gatomon jumped to the floor and quickly grabbed the slowly rolling ball. "See, nice and fast. Thanks." She resumed her previous bouncing and continued. "Always be on your game and alert. One hit and you can be seriously messed up. Again!"

This time she launched out three balls one after another, each one aimed at Kouhei. The first he dodge, the second nicked his shoulder, and the third hit him square in the chest. Irish laughed as she took the balls back from Gatomon. Dee muttered something about being a sadist over Irish's laughter.

"Well, it's a start," she said through her laughter. "Of course I'm a sadist. I'm a trainer, every trainer is, you've obviously never been trained Dee. It's torturous and it hurts and the whole time the guy with the whistle looks out at you barking out orders with a sick little grin on his lips. That's training." With no warning this time Irish launched out another volley of three balls. Kouhei fared better this time. He got hit in the ankle and knee this time. The third ball he dodged completely.

The next two hours passed in this way. Irish launching a several ball volley, Kouhei attempting to dodge them, and Gatomon retrieving them. Once Kouhei was able to dodge the volley of three Irish went to four, then five, then she did a continual volley with the help of Gatomon quick retrieval efforts. By the end Kouhei back and slick with sweat and his shirt clung to his body. His calves ached from his continual readied positioned and the rest of his body ached from the assault of the tennis balls. Irish rotated her arms in the sockets and massaged her swing arm. Gatomon was run a bit thin as well as her reaction time had gotten slower and she now didn't even bother to climb back to her spot on the netting post.

Dee glanced around at the three and let out a chuckle. "Break?"

"Ya! Breaks are good. Lets do that," Irish responded as she slipped the balls back into their container and put everything back into the tennis bag. Kouhei collapsed to the floor on his back. The thought that he had not in anyway kept his body in training shape crossed his mind as he wiped at the sweat on his forehead. Irish stretched her arms high above her head and arched her back.

"Ugh, I want something carb-o-loady," Irish said through a yawn. "You know a good place for some Udon?"

Gatomon padded softly over to her laid out partner. "The shop we live in is a noodle shop. They're really good. Good people too, we like to shove business their way when possible."

Dee stretched out his legs before standing upright. He walked over to Kouhei and offered him his hand like the day before and helped him to his feet. In a blind of light the tall digimon was replaced by a small black fluttering ball, Demidevimon. He fluttered over to his partner and sat back on her shoulder. Gatomon followed suit and climbed onto Kouhei shoulder. The redhead put the netting back and the four left the gym. Kou led the way again through the streets and back to the noodle shop.

The warm weather had prompted Ojiisan to prop the door open and he waved to Kouhei from behind the counter before he had even entered the door.

/"Oh, I'm glad you came back. Help an old man out and put up the noren please?"/ His smiled only widened when he saw the potential customer in tow. /"You brought a hungry friend yes?"/ he asked gleefully as he came around the counter clapping his hands.

/"Yes Ojiisan, this is Irish and her digimon Dee. I met her yesterday. She said she wanted some good Udon."/

Ojiisan looked the redhead up and down through his beady eyes. Irish gave a bow to the elderly man and a thickly accented greeting. He chuckled happily and held out his arms, motioning her farther into the shop and ushering her to a seat at the counter. /"Go get the curtain out and I'll get your friend set up. Oh, the fortune cat one if you please!"/

Gatomon leapt from Kou's shoulder as he went to head up stairs and sat on the counter next to Irish. She looked up at the fluffy ball of black that was Dee and said. "You can go back to your other form if you want. Ojiisan won't mind, in fact I think he'd be delighted because you'd be able to eat more that way."

Irish laughed but Dee turned to look at her questioningly and then at the shopkeeper. "Alright," he said in his squeaky voice. "But don't blame me if the old man has a heart attack. Reaction to me has never been very accommodating."

Gatomon thought back to her conversation with Ojiisan the night before and gave a small smile. "He'll be fine." In a flash of light Dee returned to his champion form and took a seat next to Irish. The bent turtleman opened his eyes wide and stared at the leather clad digimon, then looked at Gatomon, then chuckled again and touched the tip of his nose. The little cat felt her cheeks heat slightly.

/"I've never seen one of you little creatures evolve before, quite a sight."/ He said as he busied himself with the Undon. Gatomon smiled and explained what he said to the two. As he fried up the thick noodles he hummed nonsensically to himself. /"What for you my dear little cat?/"

/"hm.. Something spicy and with fish, surprise me Ojisan!"/

/"Yes yes, very good. What about for your tall friend?"/ He asked as he quickly got to work on something for Gatomon.

Before Gatomon could translate and ask for his order Dee replied himself. /"Hot soba, any topping or fillers you want, thank you."/

Gatomon stared at him and he stared back. Her eyes narrowed and he grinned. "You could have told me you understand Japanese."

Dee shrugged. "We're digimon. We know all languages. We're programed too, you should know that." With the last part he leaned forward on the counter to look her square in the eyes. She frowned at his playful teasing which only made him chuckle while he settled back.

"Comes in handy," Irish added. "He's like my own personal rosetta stone." As Ojisan began to cook the steam began to build and Irish took a deep breath. "That smells so good. I don't know how to cook your guys food around here so we've been living vicariously through convenience store noodles."

It always brought a smile to Gatomon's face to watch the bent old man cook. He was completely in his element and put his all into every bowl he put out. Spices filled their nostrils and steam curled up towards the beamed ceiling. The creak of stairs let her know her partner was returning, slung over his shoulder was the cloth noren. Sliding over a chair he quickly attached the shop curtain into place. It was a traditional fortune cat clutching a coin on a background of swirling blues. Kouhei put in his order, ramen with beef, and sat down next to Irish.

As they waited for their food Kouhei and Irish discussed their training of the day. Kouhei was mildly embarrassed at his performance and lack of stamina but Irish merely smiled and shook her head at him.

"No more of this ok?"

"Huh?"

"No more of this embarrassment, this putting yourself down, this feeling weak nonsense. Everyone starts somewhere and you're stupid to think that your body would be work ready like it was when you were taking lessons all the time. How many times did you fall down then? How many timesyou're your body ache so bad you thought you were crazy for going back for more? This will be the same thing, only you'll be in a better position to handle it."

Kouhei gave her a small smile as Ojiisan shuffled over to them and slide several plates in front of them. Dee got a bowl of Tsukimi soba, hot soba noodles with a raw egg on top that poaches with the heat, Irish got a large bowl of Udon noodles cooked in a delicious sweet sauce, Gatomon got her fish in the form of tensoba, tempura prawns and mushrooms over soba noodles, and Kouhei his beef ramen.

Irish pulled apart her disposable chopsticks and brought her bowl right underneath her nose inhaling the delicious smell. "This looks and smells awesome. Oh what's that thing you guys say before a meal? Something about receiving food."

Together Gatomon and Kouhei said "Itadakimasu."

Irish smiled and pointed a chopstick at the pair. "That's it!" She and Dee both followed suit and uttered their own itadakimasu again with Irish's words being heavily accented. Ojiisan chuckled happily as the four dug into their food.

Gatomon, not wanting be left out of any conversation, was sitting on the counter in front of Irish forming a narrow diamond pattern of seating with the other three. As she chewed and swallowed down a large prawn her curiosity over flowed finally. "So how long have you guys played together, did you learn as a pair, how hard was it to learn, do you-"

Irish held out a hand and slurped down the noodles hanging from her mouth. "One question at a time cat, please. I've always played violin, long before I met Dee."

"When I heard her play for the first time I was intrigued," Dee continued. "Where we were staying, at a church ironically given my appearance, they had a large hand me down piano. While Irish was away and I was on my own I began to tinker and taught myself."

"Ya, thought he'd be funny. Just joined in on a song I was practicing out of the blue, scared me half to death," Irish said with a laugh.

"But how?" Gatomon asked between some more chewing. "How did you teach yourself?"

Dee set his sticks down atop his bowl and propped his elbows up on the counter looking at Gatomon. "Interested in learning are you?"

With no hesitation she quickly answered yes. "I liked music before. But hearing you too play was something..." she struggled for the words. "I don't know, it moved me." she finished sincerely.

The pale digimon smiled at the spotted cat's honesty. "Good music, played by musicians who put passion into every note is a thing of beauty," Dee mused. "It should invoke something within the listener." He picked up his chopsticks again and added in a nonchalant manner, "You could stop by if you wanted, look at some of our sheet music. If you're nice I might let you touch baby's keys."

Gatomon looked at Irish who nodded her consent then her face spread into a wide smile. "Really? Thank you so much," she said.

As the group neared the bottoms of their bowls both Kouhei's and Irish's digivices began to squeal a high pitched alert at them. They pulled them out and quickly saw a wild one reading down by the dock. Irish smiled and quickly slapped down a pile of bills on the counter, more than enough to pay for all of them and tip very well. Kouhei knew what she was preparing to do, to go and fight. His belly full of food suddenly turned to cold heavy stones and a spark of excitement mixed with fear shot down his spine.

"You ready to do this?" She asked as she jumped to her feet. Neo followed suit, turned into Demidevimon and fluttered to her shoulder. Gatomon leapt onto Kou's shoulder as well. Her face was full of concern.

/"Are you?"/ she asked him softly.

Kouhei took a deep steadying breath and nodded. "I'm ready."

With the digimon holding on for the ride the two ran down the streets and back to the dock, using their digivices as a guide. Skidding around a corner the digimon came into few. He was wandering around aimlessly amidst several large packing crates. Around as tall as Irish but nearly three times as thick the digimon had large long arms that hung to his ankles, was covered in thick matted brown fur, and sported hands and feet three sizes too large for his frame. Kouhei glanced down at his digivice and it read the digimon standing before them as being an Junglemojyamon.

The bigfoot like digimon froze, sniffed at the air, then slow turned to face the group. It's pupils enlarged and it's nostrils flared. Kouhei's fear started to ebb away and in it's place adrenaline began to seep into his blood. He and Irish exchanged looks and she gave him an encouraging grin. Dee returned back to his champion form and he and Irish backed up leaving Kou out in the open.

/"It's ok Gatomon, I know you'll be there if i need you."/

Reluctantly Gatomon jumped from her partner's shoulders and padded over to to Irish and Dee. Kou readied himself and took a wide firm stance. The furry digimon gave out a loud bellow and launched himself at the lone Kouhei. The digimon pulled back and arm and launched out a straight punch. Kouhei sidestepped to the left, dodging the attack. The clumsy digimon stumbled, having thrown all of his strength into his punch. Kou took advantage of this and quickly swiped at digimon legs, helping him finish his fall to the floor.

The breath was knocked out of his lungs as he face planted on the wooden planks. Kouhei quickly brought his knee down on his back further emptying his lungs. Giving out an enraged yell Junglemojyamon jumped to his feet, spun around, and kicked out straight aiming at Kouhei's chest. The scrawny boy leapt backward, crossing his arms over his chest to protect himself. He didn't jump back far enough and the last part of the kick hit him and sent him skidding back another foot and slamming his back into the crates and cracking his head on the wood.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he braced himself again as the digimon let out another yell. Once again it lumbered forward and heaved a large fist at Kouhei. Kouhei stepped out of the way, grasp his extended arm as shot forward, and using the digimon's momentum against him tossed him into the wooden crates. Junglemojyamon crashed through the crates shattering them into splinters.

Again he the digimon lumbered upright, slower this time, groaning slightly. Before it could get back on the attack Kouhei launched the heel of his palm forward into his nose. Blood ran down his face and the digimon grimaced leaving himself open to attack. Kouhei took advantage by grasping Junglemojyamon by the wrist, twisting his arm outward and locking the elbow, and drove his own elbow directly into the digimon's side.

The large furry digimon crumbled to his knees and in a fit of rage swiped out his arm sideways nailing Kouhei in the stomach and tossing him to the boards onto his back. He quickly regained his feet as the angry digimon charged head first. Kouhei once again avoided the cumbersome digimon and using it's momentum against used a hip toss to send him flying. As he landed on his back his breath once again was forced from his lungs.

Against his taught discipline he delivered a straight punch to the furry face of the digimon. A deep growl came from the digimon's throat and swung out at Kouhei, who quickly maneuvered out of it's reach. It seemed that the big footed digimon had a short list of trick as it once again let out a yell and charged Kouhei. Using the large digimons force against him, Kou threw him again. This time the digimon slammed into the planks and bounced into the water with a splash. Water shot up and sprayed the wooden dock. Quickly, Kouhei ran to the edge to see large digimon floundering in the water and quickly disappearing underneath the now ruffling waves. With a large uproar of bubbles the Junglemojyamon data flitted upward.

With his chest heaving Kouhei smiled and turned to face his audience. He now knew why Gatomon had not come to his rescue or screamed at the scene, she was securely held by Dee in his large leather clad hands with her mouth covered. He set the little cat on her feet and she dashed to her partner and launched onto his shoulder. All of her covered up voice exploded into concerned chatter that he never really heard in the aftermath of the battle. Irish came up to him and said some kind of congratulation slapping him on his sore shoulder.

"You got an assist from the water, but you do what you need to do against a digimon. We'll call it quits for today," Irish said smiling. "Tomorrow?" she asked.

Forcing his open smile into a more conservative grin he shook his head. "I work tomorrow but I'm free the next day."

"What about you?" Dee asked looking at the green eyed cat perched on Kouhei's shoulder. "Tomorrow?"

Smiling she nodded yes and the two groups parted ways. Kouhei felt lighter than air as he strolled home. The chatter from his digimon went in one ear and out the other, he couldn't have repeated a single word of it.

Kouhei couldn't stop smiling through dinner either. Even as he stammered out some lame explanation for his scrapes and bruises that normally would leave him bowing, blushing, and mortified. Even as Obaasan scolded him and prodded him for the real reason for his injuries his thoughts were jumbled and the vague realization of how sore he'll be tomorrow drifted through the mishmash of thoughts.

/"Obaasan, leave the boy alone. As you can plainly see, he is upright and with no serious injuries." Ojiisan smiled at Kou, his dark eyes hidden as his wrinkled face upturned into a thasmile. "Boys will be boys," he said addressing his wife then turning back to the tousled haired Kouhei. "If you needed anything I'm sure you'd say it right?" /

Still smiling Kouhei nodded furiously. Gatomon smiled at the old turtle man. He was always understanding and the peace keeper in the house. While his wife meant well and truly cared for them, she had a habit of scolding as though her partner was a child. Turtleman was more in the habit of scolding by disguising it with advice and morals stories. Under the clucking of Obaasan still rambling and concerned talk Kouhei quickly shoveled in his rice and meat, excused himself, and after depositing his dishes in the sink quickly escaped to his rented room. He realized he'd probably apologize for any lack of respect his quick answers and quicker exit caused, but at the moment he was still floating.

Kou flopped onto his futon and stretched to his fullest, his toes peeking over the end of the thin small mattress. Gatomon padded after him and slid the door closed before coming to sit at her partner's shoulder. The first time since graduating over a year ago, he felt his life might have some direction. At Least he had a purpose to get up beyond earning pay and feeding his body.

* * *

A/N - Please leave me a review and let me know what you thought, Thanks for reading! I love Udon noodles lol

noren - Japanese door curtains.


	5. Adalwulfmon

**Nature versus Nurture - Chapter 5- Adalwulfmon**

* * *

The next day Kouhei ached all over. Muscles that he once had trained for repetitive abuse were now out of their routines and screamed in protest as he shut off alarm clock and struggled to his feet. The hot shower did something to limber him up, but he knew a day of delivering groceries on a bike would do nothing but exacerbate his pain. He apologized profusely to the old couple over breakfast but still differed from telling them the whole truth to what he had done the previous day. Bidding them and his digimon farewell he ran out the shop and through the back alleys to his job.

Gatomon lingered a bit from what her goal of the day was. Like a usual day when Kouhei worked she busied herself helping the old couple tend to the shop and to their customers. She really did feel differently about Irish's lanky dark digimon after the passing of yesterday, but still felt a pinprick of foreboding which made her feel guilty. He had done nothing to even encourage such a mistrust and had even offered to teach her about music, something she never realized meant so much to her. It was this conflicting back and forth that delayed her arrival to the converted loft. Standing nervously she knocked as loudly as her gloved paws could on the door.

She waited in silence. 'Maybe they're both away, or maybe he was joking…' Gatomon thought with a sinking heart. Just as she was about to turn away and leave the door slid open and she found Dee looking down at her with his crimson eyes.

"Good morning, or afternoon now I guess. Come in please," He said gesturing her in with his hand. Still feeling like a bundle of nerves Gatomon walked past Dee and entered the loft. She looked around, Irish was nowhere to be found. Answering her unasked question Dee spoke, "Irish is out. She likes to wander and will probably be back around sunset." He moved past her to sit at the piano. He swiped imagined dust from the fall before sliding it open to reveal the pristine white keys. Any apprehension she felt from being alone with the tall virus digimon faded away as he revealed the keyboards and she quickly jumped up to join him at the bench.

Dee glanced down at her and smiled slightly. She was practically bouncing she was so excited to be there at the piano and he let her take it all in. Excited as she was she had no idea where to begin. She looked over the black and white keys of the piano and at the sheet music propped on the music rack. The notes were a completely foreign language to her. At the top of the page read Kesson Daslef.

Dee placed his fingers on the keys and began to play. The room was filled with a somber sad and powerful tone. Gatomon closed her eyes and let the melody carry her away. All too soon the melody tapered off and Dee lifted his fingers from the keys.

"Good thing you're enthusiastic because my guess is you're starting from scratch right?"

Gatomon looked at him and nodded. "The page looks like it's full of dots lines and squiggles, like some kind of abstract modern art," she admitted. Dee laughed at her description, a full clear sound that Gatomon found she liked.

"I like that, they make art and they look like art. They're called notes, they mark the keys that should be played, like instructions. The lines they're on is called the staff. The shape of the notes and the position on the staff tell you what note it is. The first thing is to learn their names and the keys they correspond to." Gatomon listened intensely as Dee went through the names of the notes and the keys and by the end of her visit she was able to name them and tap out hot cross buns and the melody part of heart and soul with Dee as back up with the rhythm part. She was disappointed her paws were not very good for the keys and was worried that even if she did get everything straight in her head her stubby little clawed nubs wouldn't be able to follow through.

Dee chuckled at her insecurities much to her annoyance. "You're only a champion, hopefully you'll get some stylish long fingers next time you digivolve," he said with a sideways smile. It was then that Irish slipped back into the loft. She smiled at the sight of them and Gatomon hopped down to greet her. Dee stayed put where he was and offered his partner a small two fingered wave.

"So polite," Irish said, "Hopefully you can rub off on Dee. It's pretty late now, will Kouhei be missing you?"

Gatomon's ears shot up and she claps her gloved paws over her mouth. She bid goodbye to Irish and waved goodbye to Dee from his place at the piano. Amazed how much time had passed and still wired from her lesson she darted from the loft and back to the little shop she lived at with her partner. Kouhei, looking exhausted, was already sitting at the small square table upstairs with a fresh bowl of noodles and meat steaming in front of him. Gatomon talked in rapid succession of her day with Dee and his baby. As tired as he was Kouhei smiled and was happy she had found something that interested her so much. He had often felt bad when attending classes and now work where she was not allowed to come. It gave him a lightness in his heart to see her happy and excited for something that was her own.

A beep from his mobile drew his attention and flipping open the screen he saw it was a text from Irish. "Tomorrow?"

Kouhei rolled his sore shoulders and responded, "Yes, I'll be there at 1000 again. Is that fine?"

Another beep and her response, "Ya that's fine, just make sure you actually show up at 10, see you then."

The pair finished their meals, cleaned up their dishes and then headed down stairs to help clean up the shop as was their usual custom then off to the comfort of a futon and cool sheets.

This time his little alarm worked like a charm and Kouhei and Gatomon were up early enough to get stretched out and even get some food in their bellies. They made their way to Irish's loft with time to spare and knocked. Irish slid open the door and at beamed at the pair of them. "Early birds!" she said cheerfully, ushering them inside. "You're so early I'm still eating. Dee! Wake up!" she hollered up at the bed room loft. "Go ahead and get some stretching done. I'm not gonna rush my oatmeal because you're early today." Irish sat back at her black marble bar top and continued her meal while Kouhei took her advice and got some more stretching in. A short while later Dee's lanky figure came down the spiral stairs and sat down next to his partner. Yawning, he waved a nonchalant greeting to Kouhei and Gatomon.

Irish gulped down the remainder of her orange juice and waved Kouhei over to her. "Okay, so we're gonna do much of the same, but with a twist today! Also, you're gonna give your schedule for the week so I can get a more solid schedule together."

Dee couldn't suppress his laughter as he leaned his head on one of his hands. "Solid? You make it seem like you could actually plan anything. Don't be fooled," he said addressing Kouhei, "Even with notice ahead of time she'll still just wing it."

Irish narrowed her eyes at Dee and socked him in his boney arm. She rolled her eyes and looked back at Kouhei. "What I do, however I do it, works. Already one training down and you nailed one digimon! You cannot deny my current methods." This last part she addressed back at her digimon. Dee chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, conceding his point and letting his partner have it.

"Assume the powder puff form and let's get outta here." With Dee digivolved down and nestled in Irish's shoulder, the foursome headed out again and back to the tennis courts. This time without her racket bag, which puzzled the boy and his cat. The man behind the counter nodded and waved at Irish as she strolled in through the door. At Kouhei's questioning look she explained it simply by saying she called ahead and led the way up the stairs to the roof top court.

The sky was nearly cloudless and temperature warm. A light breeze helped cut the heat and it could be generally stated it was a beautiful day. The lack of racket became apparent immediately. Positioned on the north side of the court was an automatic ball machine. Three automatic ball machines actually. Squeaky laughter could be heard issuing from the side of Irish's neck along with the muffled word 'Sadist!'

This training was much like the first, but with faster balls that hit harder. Irish loaded up the machines, angled them the way she liked, adjusted their settings, and let them loose on poor Kouhei. Gatomon couldn't surprise a grimace every time a ball clipped him. Over all he did very well against the trio of machines. By the end of it Kouhei was drenched in sweat, panting, and covered in welts from the small of the furry green tennis balls. He collapsed flat on his back, starring up at the sky. Gatomon padded over to her partner, her fuzzy round face looming over him blocking out the blue canvas above.

Irish walked over to the pair and sat down to Kouhei's right. "What a trooper! Man you're built to take abuse aren't you?" she said with a laugh. Kouhei laughed too.

"That's what my old sensei used to say because I never stopped. I guess you're my new sensei now huh?"

"Let's not start calling her that," Dee responded as he walked over to join them. "She has enough confidence already, I don't need her head getting any bigger." Irish responded by sticking out her tongue and they called it a day, wrapping it all up at the noodle house.

The next week passed similarity for the quartet. When Kouhei was at work, Gatomon was with Dee and his piano and every day he had off he was there with Irish training. The spotted cat was learning more and more but unable to follow through because of her short fingers. She settled with reading the sheet music alongside Dee as he played for her and helping turn his pages. The beautiful music he created made her happy but she still felt disappointment at being unable to play along with him.

After the tennis court Irish evolved to similar but different training methods. One such was having Kouhei dodge Dee's and Irish's serves on a one wall hand ball court. Another focused on retraining his rusty techniques on Dee and Irish. She also taught him some of her "process" as she called it for fighting. Aside of boxing she used Systema, the Russian Martial art of pressure points, body lever control, and hand to hand combat. A system, she stated, that was particularly good at leveling the playing field with larger than you digimon. Every day he felt a little less sore and everyday his confidence increased. He even toppled another champion level digimon, this time without any water assistance.

A week and a half after their first late night meeting the four were patronizing their favorite noodle shop when their digivices let out a familiar high pitch noise.

"It's not at the docks, weird." Irish said as she tossed bills on the counter.

"Looks like it's at the old playground. Come on I know a short cut," Kouhei said as he climbed to his feet. With their digimon on their shoulders they waved goodbye to the old man and dashed out the door. Kouhei knew all the shortcuts not only from living in the small town his whole life but from his delivery job and led the way through the winding backstreets. The four burst from a narrow side street and onto the playground.

Prowling around between the swings and a slide styled like an elephant was a slinky dog resembling a dobermen. It had large spikes coming from the back of paws, piercing red eyes, and a large spiked collar. Kouhei checked his digivice. "Dobermon, champion level beast digimon. Ok, I'll handle this." Kouhei was eager to try his luck on a non-humanoid digimon and was confident in his success.

Gatomon leapt from his shoulder and stood next to Irish and a normal size Dee. As Kouhei advanced the dog digimon noticed him. A low growl was the only warning he got before the digimon charged at him. Kouhei quickly stepped aside and the dog skidded past him, turned around and charged again, its mouth open to bite. He crouched down and moved away again, sending the dog crashing into the cement elephant. He took the opportunity to knee the fallen dog in its ribs. As he prepared to launch another attack a blinding light enveloped the crumpled dog. In place of Dobermon a larger black colored three headed dog emerged. Letting out a deep growl it swung out its tail, nailing Kouhei in the stomach.

"Oh shit!" Irish exclaimed as Kouhei was sent tumbling head of heels to the ground. His head hit the ground with a resounding crack. As he rolled to stomach he coughed up a clot of fresh red blood. Gatomon bared her fangs and let out a hiss before spring between the dog and her partner and launching out a lighting paw attack straight at its face.

This stunned it temporality and it growled and swept out his large tail again, knocking Gatomon out of the way and sending her into a brick wall. The spotted cat rubbed the back of her head and as her vision began to clear saw three headed dog advancing on her partner again.

Irish grasp her digivice, which was buzzing with activity. "Dee now!" she yelled as she knelt down to Kouhei. Dee stepped in front of Kouhei and was engulfed in light. When it cleared Dee was gone but a large wolf was in his place. With a growl the wolf body checked DIGIMON and sent him crashing backward. Gatomon climbed to her feet and ran to Kouhei's side.

'I didn't know he could get to ultimate level,' Gatomon immediately thought as she glanced at him while she made her way to Kouhei and Irish.

By the time she gotten there the digivolved Dee was on the attack. Before it could regain its feet the wolf launched out his fangs and gave an upward bite mimicking the shape of a crescent moon and dissolving the black dog into data. With Irish and Gatomon's help Kouhei flipped over and sat down with his legs stretched out. Irish was running her hands along his sides feeling for broken ribs. She found none thankfully. Kouhei spit out more bright red blood.

/"I bit my cheek,"/ he explained his concerned digimon. /"I think I'm bruised all over but nothing is broken."/

"How does your head feel? Do you feel like you're going to throw up? Do you have a headache?" Irish asked hurriedly. Kouhei seemed lethargic and she had him leaning against her body.

"A little bit. I feel, fuzzy…"

"Hm, might have a bit of a concussion. Hey Adalwulfmon, you think you can give him a ride?"

Gatomon's attention shifted to the wolf, Adalwulfmon as he approached the trio. He was about waist high to Irish, thin and lanky with purplish royal blue hued fur and a white chest and belly. He had a large long tail that fanned out flat and tri-forked. His fur looked ruffled, a step away from mangy and he had large oval deep blue eyes that matched his color scheme. A pair of small horns sprouted from the side of his head and curved forward. His long skinny legs were topped off with large clawed paws and clicked softly as he approached. He crouched down at Kouhei. "If you can pile him on there," I familiar yet gruffer voice said, "I can get him home."

Irish eased a dazed Kouhei to his feet and hauled him onto Adalwuflmon's back. With her hand on him to steady and prevent him from falling off they walked back to the noodle shop. Night had fallen and no one was met in the small town to question them.

Gatomon unlocked the front door and helped navigate the darkened shop. Once at the steps Irish helped Kouhei off Adalwulfmon's back and put his arm around her shoulder while placing hers around his waist. Together they made their way up the stairs. Before Gatomon could reach the knob the door swung open and Obaasan face looked down at them, the back lighting from the small apartment causing the pair to close their eyes momentarily.

She clasp her hand over her mouth and exclaimed, /"What did you do! Ojiisan! Ojiisan!"/ The calls of his wife brought the little turtle man shuffling into view.

/"Stand aside wife, let them enter. You can pester them after we know they're all alright!"/ he said moving his wife out of the way and helping Irish navigate to Kouhei's small back room. Gatomon rushed in and flung back his sheets and Irish helped ease Kouhei onto his futon.

"Can you ask if they have a flashlight? I want to check his pupils." Gatomon translated to the old man and a flashlight was quickly produced. After shinning the light into one pupil and the next Irish seemed satisfied. "I think it's just a mild concussion. His pupils are fine, but he has a headache and some nausea so I'm not too worried. Is this your first head injury?"

Gatomon answered for him that it was. "Ok well I bet you know the drill from other students getting them. No high risk activities until one week after your headache goes away, which means you get a free week or so without training, lucky dog." She gave Kouhei a soft smile and that he returned. "Best to stay awake for a while, we can give you some ice for your head." She looked over at a concerned Gatomon. "He'll live to fight on another day, don't worry." Gatomon couldn't not return her smile and couldn't hide her concern.

The next day Kouhei was re-cooperating with the help of Irish, Obaasan, and Gatomon at the noodle house. The old couple were more concerned than curious when Irish carried him up the stairs. Seeing how frantic and upset the little cat was Irish and Obaasan encouraged her to get out and spend time Dee and his piano. She resisted until Kouhei encouraged her too.

/"I'm around the bend now Gatomon my headache is gone. You need to relax. You think Obaasan or Irish would let me go do anything reckless?"/ He said gently as he rubbed the top of her head affectionately. Reluctantly she did as he told her and wandered back to the loft. Both he and Irish noticed the marked difference in her from one day to the other and shared looks of concern as she slowly left the room. Her mind was wandering and her thoughts swirling so much so that she took several wrong turns and It took her nearly double the time it takes to arrive.

Dee was seated at the piano when she knocked and he hollered to her that the door was open. Gatomon let herself in and hoped up to the bench. She didn't give him her usual cheerful greeting, instead she quietly flipped through the stack of music on the stand and pulled out one for him to play for her; Raindrops. For a while the pair was silence as the hopeful melody filled the space. As the melody transformed with help of strong cords to a more somber melody Dee finally broke the silence.

"You're very quiet." Gatomon didn't respond, she just turned the page. Dee stopped playing. "I'm not stupid you know, what-"

"Can I ask you for something?"

Dee looked down at the downcast cat. "What?"

She looked up at him with her large emerald eyes and asked, "Can you train me to digivolve?"

Dee stared at her without answering and went back to playing, the music abandoning its forceful cords to taper back down to a quiet acceptance. "I don't know if I can train someone to digivolve, but I'll try on one condition."

Her ears perked up and her face brightened. "What's that?"

He smiled at her and said, "Just stop pouting already, it doesn't suit you."

* * *

**A/N –** I didn't get this out in July like I wanted, however I have the next chapter nearly finished because it was originally part of this chapter but it ran so long decided to divide it. For me I already feel like I condensed a lot of what I wanted but I think that it helps things move along. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you think! Also look up kesson Daslef by Aphex Twin, it's the song Dee plays for Gatomon. Very short but beautiful. Raindrops Is by Chopin

Adalwulf means noble wolf.

Speak in / slants / is in Japanese.


	6. Gatomon's blood sweat and tears

Nature versus Nurture - Chapter 6 – Gatomon's blood sweat and tears

Speech in /slants/ are spoken in Japanese.

Obaasan = grandma/old lady Ojiisan = grandpa/old man.

* * *

Gatomon left the loft feeling a bit lighter, the hope that she might be able to get stronger with the help of Dee made her smile. When she got back her Kou and Irish were sitting at the counter eating some of turtleman's delicious noodles. Kouhei smiled over at her as she entered and called her up to join them. / "Are you feeling better?"/

Gatomon sat down on the ledge of the counter. /"Are _you_?"/

/"I'm fine now. My head ache is gone so a just have to take it easy for a while."/

Irish set her chopsticks down on her empty bowl. "I can't throw balls at you but we can still train. Endurance and strength training! Nice nonimpact stuff."

"I work the next three days so by then you should have gotten a chance to make an Irish style solid plan."

Irish laughed. "Hey, like I said, my methods work. Well worked pretty well, can't expect you to trump an ultimate. That dog got an assist with that elephant!" The mention of the fight caused a lively discussion between the two. Kouhei asking advice on what Irish would have done and the two analyzing different tactics. Gatomon listened but said nothing.

'He still wants to fight digimon after this?' She thought with apprehension in her heart. The two continued their discussion, unaware of her feelings.

/"You know Kouhei,"/ The old man's voice drew their attention, /"You do have some explaining to do now that you're better and able to withstand old lady's nagging."/

Kouhei bowed his head and nodded. He mumbled a translation to Irish. She nodded her head toward the old man. "I'll help out a bit with that think. Time for honesty."

Obaasan hobbled down the stairs and pointed at Kouhei. /"You, speak to me now."/ With Kouhei and Gatomon for translation help, Irish did as much helpful translation as she could. She was honest to the both of them, honest about their training, honest about fighting digimon hand to hand, and honest about how things got out of control. The old lady looked to her husband to see his reaction; he was as much at a loss and she was.

Kouhei squared his shoulders, pulled himself up to his full height and spoke, /"I'm an adult now, I can make my own decisions. Your concern is welcome but I've learned a lot from this and it won't happen again."/ The old lady looked crestfallen and unsure. He smiled to reassure her and took her hand. /"Please don't worry about me."/

/"He is right you know. He's an adult not a boy."/ Obaasan puffed out her cheeks in frustration, it seemed her husband was siding with their tenant now. At a loss for words she left them in a huff, returning back upstairs. Ojiisan turned to Kouhei, /"You are an adult as far as the law is concerned Kouhei and I'll respect your privacy and decisions. However, you are still a boy in many ways that you don't even realize. Just remember, if you need help we're always here."/ His crinkled face turned up in a smile and he dropped the subject.

After Kouhei's work schedule lightened, their training turned into a more normal routine. There was running, flexibility training, and weight lifting. Over the next two weeks this 'light' routine continued. Unknown to the two humans, Gatomon and Dee were doing their own training. They had been doing their training sessions in secret while Kouhei was away and Irish out and about.

Gatomon was gasping for air and crouched on all fours on the wooden flooring. Adalwulfmon sighed as he paced in front of her, his clawed feet clicking softly as he moved. With a concern look he surveyed the damage. She was scratched, bloody, and battered and unwilling to yield. She would not let him hold back. So far their sessions had been light and not yielded the results Gatomon wanted; Digievolution. This time she insisted that he go at her full without mercy to force her to save herself by digivolving.

"I'm- I'm not done!" she panted out as she climbed to her feet.

"Gatomon, it's time to stop," The wolf digimon responded reasonably.

Gatomon shook her head so fierce that her large tufted ears flopped back and forth. "No!" she croaked out.

The large purple wolf walked forward to the smaller digimon and sat on its haunches. "Kitten, it's time to stop. What I've been doing to you for the last half hour isn't training, it's torture. I can't do it anymore you can't make me continue to hurt you." He spoke softly with his cool voice. Gatomon, who had had her eyes screwed close and head cast down, turned her face up to look at him. Her large eyes were glassy with tears and she looked like she wanted to speak, but wasn't sure how to begin. These were not tears from the brutal sparring match she had forced upon adalwulfmon.

He knew. He also knew from his short friendship with Gatomon could be prideful and to cry in front of anyone would be humiliating to the small cat. He stretched out his neck and rested his muzzle gently on her head to shield her from view and she broke down. Her small frame shook with her sobs and she moved closer to the wolf to muffle her cries in his white fluffy underfur.

He knew something was bothering her and allowed her to drain her pent up emotions. He wanted to know, he felt an urge to help her anyway he could but would never pretend that he was on any level with the vaccine digimon that allowed him to pry. 'I hope she'll tell me, I hope she'll confide in me,' He thought to himself.

She never knew she had that many tears in her. Even though her heaving and sobbing could not be mistake, having Adalwulfmon as a shield from the outside world made her feel safe. After a good ten minutes Gatomon backed up and wiped her nose with the back side of her glove. Her eyes were puff and her nose red. She was not a pretty crier. Her nose ran like a faucet and she could barely look up at wolf to tell him she'd soaked his fur.

Adalwulfmon looked at Gatomon then at his fur and replied drily, "Oh is that what that was? I thought I sprung a leak." She playfully batted his muzzle down and laughed. "That's a little better. I mean you look awful but I like to hear you laugh."

Gatomon smiled and wiped one last tear away. "You're such a jerk."

Turn so his side was to her and knelt down. "Ride?"

Not only had he just spent the last hour or so battering her, at her insistence, but she'd just broken down and sobbed in front of him and now he was offering to carry her. No judgment for her demands or actions, only concern and kindness. She felt a kinship now more strongly at that moment then even when he opened his musical soul to her. She nodded and with a smile climbed up only wolf's narrow back and settled just behind his head. His body was very lanky and thin but his fur was soft and comfortable.

Adalwulfmon walked slowly at a leisurely pace and with an even stride as not to bother the little digimon. Gatomon's body started to realize all the damage inflicted upon it. She ached and stung everywhere. Heaving out a sigh she relaxed forward so that her body rested along the back of wolf's head with her chin resting on the top.

They walked around in silence. Gatomon broke it with a long sigh. "After all of that I got nothing." She said softly. "I'm a failure..."

"A failure because you didn't digivolve?" The cat nodded. "Why is it so important to you all of a sudden?" She didn't respond. "If you don't want to tell me it's okay."

Gatomon smiled slightly. "For such a sarcastic jerk, you're sounding insecure tonight," she teased. Her smile faded. "Kouhei's always been able to take care of himself in a fight but I was always there to protect him against digimon. He needed me to protect him, but now…" As her partner began to grow in confidence and strength Gatomon felt a pin prick of foreboding in her stomach. If her Kouhei could dispatch digimon one his own, and protect himself, what was her purpose now? As they started to get nearer the loft Gatomon asked if they could walk around a bit more. "I'm not really ready to see Kouhei right now," she admitted. Aldawulfmon consented and they took another turn around the dock area.

"You do realize I'm partnered with Irish right? The girl that taught your boy all that stuff remember?"

Realization came to her then. "How did you deal with it? Didn't you feel useless?"

He let out a bark of a laugh and replied, "Useless, that's a bit strong. Is that how you feel?" Gatomon didn't respond. "I felt a little threatened, I've been with her since she was little and was her protector throughout her childhood. She's always been as she is though, always headstrong and confident. Most little human girls dream of a white knight on a horse to save them but not Irish. She'd save herself. We are their protectors but we're also their friends, what we give to them and what we get from them isn't just something corporal; something we can see or touch, it's emotional. We're bonded to them, I know you can feel it as I do. In the end though you have to remember, they're only humans. Kouhei learned that already."

"Yes, but when he needed me I wasn't there for him!" Gatomon sighed and continued, "I do feel bonded, I can understand what you mean when you say that, but as I am right now… I can't protect him when he stumbles." While they walked and talked (or rather one walked the other rode) the sun began to set and the sky darkened.

Gatomon straightened up and stretched, "It's getting late, and I'm sure Kouhei is wondering where I am. I'm usually waiting for him at the noodle shop."

Before he could respond the sound of cracking wood and smashing boxes interrupted them. Adulfwomon's and Gatomon's ears perched up. "Hear that?" he grumbled out. Gatomon nodded and peered down at Adalwulfmon. "Check it out?" She nodded again. Slowly, the pair advanced through a maze of buildings; navigating closer to the sounds. Pressing his flank against the side of a warehouse Adalwulfmon edged to the corner of the building and the wolf and cat peered around. Stomping around, smashing boxes, and tossing them against a nearby building was a large humanoid digimon. Large and muscular, the digimon has a silver color shoulder padding reminiscent of those used by football players and strangely an active volcano erupting from his back, Volcamon.

Adalwulfmon sniffed the air and growled through clenched fangs. He glanced up at the moonless night sky and said, "He smells like an ultimate. This isn't good, with new moon I'm weaker than even my champion form and it'll be close in that form."

"Wait what?"

"In this form my strength is effected by the moon. During the day my strength is normal, in the presence of the moon it increases as the moon gets fuller, but on the new moon when there is no moon visible my strengthen drained. Fun little side-note to a digievolution huh?"

Gatomon flattened her ears and looked at the imposing digimon stomping and raging in front of them. In a flash of light Gatomon found herself no longer seated on the Adalwulfmon's back but Dee's shoulder. He held up the palm of his hand to her. "Hop down kitten."

Gatomon looked herself over, she was bruised and cut all over and even with the time she rested on Adalwulfmon's back she felt like she'd hit by a truck. She couldn't help at all so she obeyed and climbed on to his hand and was lowered to the ground. Wasting no time Dee slinked into the shadows and approached Volcamon from behind. The buff digimon stiffened, sensing Dee's approach but before he could spin around Dee launched out his claw nailing the digimon in the back and sending him crashing to the ground.

Although he had a large frame, Volcamon was up on his feet in an instant. Right away Dee launched another attack, holding his hand out and emitting a blackish blue beam at the larger digimon. This sent him flying back and slamming into the side of a warehouse and through the wall. As the dust began to clear the volcano digimon climbed back through the hole laughing as he went.

"It's like that huh string bean? You'll have to do better!" Crouching down in a three point stance, the digimon launched into a charge throwing his shoulder toward Dee. Quickly, Dee launched into the air, avoiding the attack. The clumsy digimon wasn't as clumsy as he appeared as he reached up and grasp Dee's foot as he past. Using his forward momentum he whipped Dee like a rag doll into a pile of crates. The boxes cracked and wood pieces flew everywhere.

Dee gave his head a shake and rolled out of the way as Volcamon brought his fist down where his head just lay. In his crouched position Dee launched a straight leg kick at the digimon's side, knocking him off balance. Quickly he launched another claw attack at the fallen digimon. Bam! Dee was sent flying by the force of two missiles hitting him. He was taken completely off guard by the arrival of another digimon.

Volcamon straightened up, "Where ya been Andromon? You're missing the fun."

The lanky android digimon advanced on Dee. "If getting your butt beat by a champion small fry is fun, I guess I am." Dee crawled to a crouching position as the two talked. Before he could spring into the air Volcamon charged again. He sidestepped the attack but then was hit straight with a lightening blade attack from the newcomer.

Dee slammed heavily into the floor and stayed down. He lifted his head to watch as

two android digimon advanced on him. One was hard but doable. Two was too much. Injured and sore as she was, Gatomon couldn't watch this happen and do nothing. If she did nothing Dee would be nothing more than a digiegg. Running on all fours she skidded to a stop between Dee and the pair of ultimates. She hissed and braced herself to launch at them.

"Gatomon, no run!" Dee called from behind her.

The two digimon exchanged glances then laughed. "Fine little cat, have it your way! We'll go through you first!" Volcamon said over the Andromon's laughter. "By the way, THAT'S what you call a small fry champion!"

Baring her fangs she launched herself at Volcamon. Suddenly she was engulfed in white, she was digievoling. She felt her legs and arms elongate and something sprout from her back. When the light cleared the battered cat was gone, instead streaming toward large digimon was an Angewomon. Taken aback at the transformation, Angewomon had the upper hand. She flew in between the pair, knocking them backward in a gust of wind. She quickly twisted around and faced them and mimed the sign of the cross. A bright pink tinged cross beam of light appeared, growing in size, as it sped toward the android. The beam engulfed them and it was over. Before the pair could let out a yell they dissolved into data. As the adrenalin began to leave her, an excited Angewomon gave herself a once over.

Like her champion from, her outward appearance differed from other Angewomon. Instead of her long pink scarf wrapping around her wrists and suspending above her it was wrapped around her neck. Her body suit was cut differently. Her white a suit was cut like boy shorts instead of high cut and she had no peek a boo cut outs over her stomach. She also saw she had no golden breastplate. Instead her suit covered the entirety of her front latching like a halter top and leaving the skin underneath her four sets of wings bare. Her boots were heelless and both rose above her knees and were suspended with golden latches to the bottom of her suit with gold garters. Her boots were accented farther with golden stitch work. Her long pale straw colored hair was bound in to pigtails at the base of her head.

She heard laughter and turned to see Dee, whom had fallen over onto his side, laughing. Suddenly, small bit of uncertainty began to seep into her heart. While it was highly likely she'd digivolve into another vaccine digimon, it was by no means certain. Where things now different between them, even after she confided in him and then saved him?

Gesturing to her and still laughing Dee exclaimed, "You're so short! You have to be a good five inches shorter than other angewomon." She looked at herself, it was true. Her legs weren't the typical mile long angewomon's legs. She was kind of stubby and unlike other angewomon she was flat like a board. She figured that's why she didn't have a breast plate.

Her cheeks started to heat red, but she had a smile on her face. "That's what you're laughing about! You really are a jerk, I should have left you to them! You should be thanking me!" She said as she walked over to him and pushed him the rest of the way to the floor.

Dee held his hands out in mock defense. Still chuckling he replied, "I'm injured and in pain, where is your compassion?"

Realization hit her as she examined her new form. "Hey, now with my new fingers I should be able to play finally!"

Before he could respond the pounding of feet grew louder and Irish and Kouhei came skidding around the corner, their digivices clutched in their hands. Kouhei's eyes widened at the sight of Angewomon and Irish broke into a huge smile.

"Wow! Look at that huh?" she exclaimed through her panting. "Take a turn let me see!" At Irish's urging she pivoted on the spot.

"It's okay, just ignore me on the floor, in pain."

Irish turned her attention to her digimon. She waked over and helped pull him to his feet, rather awkwardly given his size. "Jeez Dee you look like you got slapped around – Oh! It's the new moon isn't it?" She looked up at the night sky. "You want a ride back?"

"That would be nice. You owe me, I carried you around for the last couple hours," he said pointing at Angewomon. In a flash of light he returned to his fluttering feathered rookie form; demidevimon.

As he fluttered over to her she said teasingly, "To be fair you offered but okay."

Kouhei finally found his voice and together with Irish they assaulted the two digimon with questions. Angewomon answered them all and explained what they had been up too, the training, the first ultimate, the second one showing up, and how she stepped in between them and Dee and she digivolved. By the time she had finished, they had walked all the way back to Irish's loft.

"This calls for a celebration!" Irish cried out as she opened the loft door and led the way inside. Still a bit dazed, but beaming with pride at her accomplishment, Kouhei followed behind Irish.

"Oh by the way," Said Dee, his squeaky voice coming from crook of Angewomon's neck, "Thanks."

Angewomon smiled, "No thank you." She entered the loft, closing the door behind her.

* * *

A/N- This chapter got longer then intended, it kind of just flew from my fingers. Also took a bit longer than intended to get out, but it was a busy summer and this fall I started a new job in addition to my other job. So sorry L! Hope you enjoy!


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